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STANFORD, Calif., Jul 12, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Stanford University Professor Ben Barres has joined the debate about whether men's brains are better suited for science than women's.
But Barres, a professor of neurobiology, developmental biology, and neurology at Stanford's school of medicine, doesn't present an abstract argument -- he has lived as both a man and a woman.
Barres, who is also a physician, says his experiences as a female-to-male transgendered person debunk former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers' belief the dearth of women in the upper levels of science is rooted in biology.
Barres says scientific evidence, as well his own experiences, indicates the lack of women in the upper reaches of research has more to do with bias than aptitude.
He explains his unique perspective in a commentary published in the July 13 issue of the journal Nature.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
